Life: Beauty and Sadness

This morning found me running around outside, quickly taking some pictures. Since I was working outside all day yesterday – a bit too much, actually – I didn’t do my usual camera thing. I yanked weeds in the big garden bed, which led to yanking weeds elsewhere, which led to pruning the now-giant bush in the big garden bed and that took a long time.

This bush has been here since before we moved in – but at that time, it was half the size it is now. Every couple of years I cut it back mercilessly because it creates too much shade in that part of the bed. That’s what I did yesterday. In the fall, I’m going to take a few more inches off the top. It looks much better in this photo than it did at the start of the day. I don’t even know what kind of bush it is, though we have a couple of more on the property. It has teeny, tiny little white flowers in early spring.

I’ve thought of removing it, but that would be a mega job that would disturb the perennials nearby and I rather like having something tall in that bed.

Have you ever seen the way hollyhock leaves form? This intricate little design will unfurl into several leaves. I’m fascinated by its geometric precision.

One of the new roses in the Memorial Garden has opened this morning. Gorgeous. I’m keeping these stakes here for a few more days. The weather forecast tells me its going to be ‘Windy’ tomorrow. Sigh. I’m so sick of wind.

Oh purple coneflower! Look where you valiantly self-seeded. Right outside the garden bed, springing out of the stony ground. Coneflowers are great self-seeders. I’ve had them in the garden beds for 9 or 10 years and they have worked their way into funky little corners, along fence lines, and have multiplied in the garden beds. I love a cottage garden and, to me, there’s nothing more cottagey than coneflowers. They are forming little baby flowers right now and soon will be blooming

On a much more serious note:

In the midst of good news this week, I’ve also witnessed the sorrow of friends. A lovely young man, an actor, whom I have worked with – in fact, I’ve worked with his wife, as well – lost his father in the terrible tragedy that happened in Kalamazoo, Michigan this week. His father was one of the five bicyclists who were killed when they were hit by a pick-up truck. A truck driven by someone who was high.

And many of us who know each other from my years at Boston University heard about a terrible loss suffered by one of our own. A former student, Shannon, lost her mentally ill brother, who was homeless, when he was beaten to death by guards in a Santa Clara County jail. This happened last September and Shannon has since testified in a pre-trial hearing – the guards have been charged with murder. Shannon alerted us to a petition that has just been started over at Change.org. It asks for an increase in funding for Santa Clara County correctional facilities in order to increase staff and the training of that staff so that nothing like this can ever happen again. Shannon tells me you don’t have to be a resident of California to sign. Here’s the link, if you are so inclined.

Such heartbreaking and tragic losses for my friends.

The winner of a copy of Keep You Close is Liza Kirschner. Liza, I’ll be sending you an email shortly. Congratulations!

Comments

So sorry to hear this tragic news. I had a rather disturbing news week, too. Left me feeling mentally exhausted, so I’ve stayed home yesterday and today, just trying to re-center myself. I wish I could be working out in the yard but it was in the 90’s yesterday and same for today. Cooling off tomorrow, thank goodness.
Love coneflowers…have them in my butterfly garden.

It really is amazing to walk through the yard and see some of the miracles taking place. The way the leaves unfurl and flowers form and open….. year after year ~ each one does the same thing. There really are miracles and wonders surrounding us if we look.
2 years ago I dug up some Queen Anne’s Lace from the ditch line of a friend and stuck it in the ground. It lived through the season, but nothing came back last year. 2 weeks ago I was walking through the yard, and found one little “berm” in the yard by a white fence we have on the corner, and the entire area is full of Queen Anne’s Lace. I was so excited I may have done a bit of a little scream of joy!!
So much (too much) sadness in the news lately. That, along with politics, and it is enough to want to retreat from all of it and just spend most of the days walking and working in the yard.

Thanks for sharing your garden, it is always a delight. Do you use your iphone or camera for your pictures. You do a wonderful job of it.

I am so sorry about the tragic losses your friends have experienced. It seems like such harsh things are everywhere. Is it because there truly is more
happening or are communications so instantaneous and interwoven that we are more informed of things that we would never have heard about before?
Nevertheless, the pain is great.

Absolutely horrible about the bike riders being run down. Honestly, I just read the news article about it. The driver had already been reported as driving erratically so definitely an accident that could have been avoided. So very sad. As for the beating, the prison system in the US is out of hand. The Netherlands is closing prisons because of lack of prisoners and somehow we keep filling ours. Beating someone to death is heinous especially when it’s three prison guards who are the culprits. I just read an article about the case. Despicable; their defense is a joke. Your yard is looking so lovely. I just have two balconies filled with plants, but they make me very happy. Everyone needs some green in their life.

Terrible tragedies do indeed befall people who don’t deserve it and I’m so often at a loss to understand. The bicycle ‘murder’ – I’d read about it; broke my heart. One of my doctors is an avid cyclist, age 67 I think, and it made me think of his vulnerability when he’s out there cycling on the road.

Something that has really staggered me lately is the too-high number of people in my age group, in my small circle of the world, who are dying before they hit age 70. I’m in a small town where my family has been ‘forever’ so it’s also a small town newspaper that prints the obits and, of course, gossip gets around pretty quickly in a small town anyway. It’s both men and women, and it’s getting to the point where I’m also afraid to open the little newspaper…who will it be today? For awhile, it was PARENTS of my friends who made up the obit pages; now, it’s my FRIENDS…and former classmates, former co-workers. Such a variety of ailments, from cancer to heart disease and so on (just this week, I lost a high school acquaintance [heart]; he was only age 63)….but, lately? Early-onset Alzheimer’s. It’s an epidemic. I know of THREE cases, just in the past six months, where their symptoms started showing in even the late 50s or very early 60s. So they, and their families, have gone through years of such loss and trauma (and money) before I even see the obit. And what leaves you to head scratching on Alzheimer’s…the mystery of it…is all three of those people were highly-productive people; amazing output and contribution. They were educators, philanthropists; one was a doctor. Good brains. It really preoccupies my husband; both of his parents had diagnosed Alzheimer’s. They were older when afflicted, though. Much older than these aforementioned people. And that was bad enough. I can’t imagine being diagnosed when so young. I believe I read that the entertainer, Glen Campbell, who is now in the final stages of the disease, first started showing symptoms in his 60s also. All so very sad.

The setting of your property is pastoral, like a travel brochure or coffee-table book; so much green and open space, with lovely little homes dotted here and there. Lucky you!

And, no, what a treat…I’ve never seen a hollyhock in its beginning stages, only after they’re tall and waving in the breeze. Great photo.

Have you seen the documentary about Glen Campbell? It’s on Netflix. I think it was originally made for HBO. It’s really well done, all about that last tour he did when they knew he had Alzheimer’s. It’s funny and sad and very moving.

So very sorry for your friends who have experienced losses they shouldn’t be having to cope with. Both these scenarios were totally preventable. Two of my most recent causes are mental health and the US prison system. We have proportionally more people in prison than practically any country on earth, including dictatorships and totalitarian governments – and serious reform is needed in the US. For one thing, prisons should NOT be operated by “for profit” entities as they often are now. This just provides more incentive for locking people up, and for keeping people IN prison instead of working to get them out. I also think the vast number of those currently in prison are really more in need of mental health/drug addiction care and treatment, NOT correctional action. Of course there will always be certain individuals who should be locked up and kept out of society permanently, but the bulk of those in prison now have solvable problems and just need help. I could go on but won’t, because I know you know what I’m saying. So I’ll just say, enjoy your weekend! 🍓

I do know. And I agree. So many people are in need of help. Just like Shannon’s brother, who had mental illness, needed help and compassion, but was kicked to death. It’s heartbreaking. As Shannon said in her testimony – he meant something, he made a difference in people’s lives. So, so sad.

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband and dog. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating. My decorating style is eclectic but if I had to call it anything, I'd call it Christmas in Connecticut, after all those forties movies with comfy cottage style.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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